Recently found this brand who specialise in quiet pc power supplies. Seems like a good price. Most computers won't need much more than 400W despite many "experts" claiming you need 700W+
21 comments
polarbaba
20 Sep 17#1
I have the higher power versions, totally recommend.
zeoxzy to polarbaba
20 Sep 17#2
Good to know :grin: never used them before but is being delivered today
notos
20 Sep 17#3
400W is plenty if it's quality. I ran an overclocked GTX 460 (850MHz) with an Intel Dual Core then later on with an AMD FX8320 on a Corsair 400W (Seasonic type, not the newer ones). Never missed a beat.
airdsuk
20 Sep 17#4
Company must have been on the go for 10+ years !
alanbeenthere to airdsuk
20 Sep 17#5
Yup, rebranding other manufacturers PSUs has been a good business for them.
zeoxzy to alanbeenthere
20 Sep 17#6
Germany's number 1 psu manufacturer apparently
jamesmoorers to alanbeenthere
20 Sep 17#7
While technically true, Be Quiet! produce the designs and have other Companies (such as Seasonic) manufacture them to those designs.
Be Quiet! Are the business, been using them for almost 10 years, from 750w for my Overclocked gaming system to 300-400w for my media PC's. Fans don't even spin up unless it gets warm (which is never in my Media PC).
General rule of thumb with PSU's - never buy unbranded cheap ones, will likely go bang along with the rest of your components.
Always buy one with ample 'spare wattage' if it only has to work at 50% capacity it will be more efficient - i.e. it will only take 210w from the wall to output 200w. If it's going flat out it might draw 450w to output 400w. Also gives the option to fit more hard drives or upgrade components later
Hey folks, been meaning to buy a new PSU for a while now (mine is about 3 graphics cards on from the initial Dell *spits* it started out as and still has the same initial PSU...
Couple questions if that's OK: - Feels like its struggling with its (presumably) crappy 350W PSU - I take it this would be enough of a step up for it? - Whats the difference between the 'system power 8' / 'pure power 10' supplies? - May be related to the previous question, but do you find it comes with enough leads for everything (I currently don't have any spare and only have 1 DVD drive)?
Cant remember the exact specs, but to give you an idea of the kind of user I am, we (now) have a 1TB SSD, a ~£100 graphics card and I expanded the RAM at some point (it started out as this many moons ago - dell.com/ed/…/pd).
Thanks in advance. :grin:
zeoxzy to FrostbiteXIII
20 Sep 17#13
Power 10 probably used more "premium" parts. I know some versions of the power 10 are semi modular meaning you can disconnect the cables from it that you don't need. With the Power 8 you don't have that option
EndlessWaves
20 Sep 17#10
350W is a huge amount of power these days. a £100 (new) graphics card, 1TB SSD and a little more ram won't get close to using all that capacity. Iif the computing is struggling then that's not the power supply causing it.
Are the voltages even out of spec? They should be within 5% of the nominal voltage.
djonesuk
20 Sep 17#11
It's not that you need a 700W+ supply it's that most supplies achieve their maximum efficiency at 50% load. So if you need 350W of power a 700W PSU will be more efficient, saving power and money.
zeoxzy to djonesuk
20 Sep 17#12
But how long would it take to make up those savings in electricity costs?
CampGareth to zeoxzy
21 Sep 17#16
A looooooong time.
Say you've got a 1000W PSU that's 82% efficient at full load and 86% efficient at 50% load. You're gaining 4% efficiency, going from 109W wasted down to 81W wasted. That's 28W saved. That's 245kwh saved over a year of 24/7 operation, or at 15p per kwh that's 36 pounds.
Problem is most folk don't run their PSUs 24/7, and the 1000W capacity cost us more in the first place. The end result is that you're generally better off either going with a cheaper unit at your intended draw or if you're running a system 24/7 as a NAS for instance just spending more on a more efficient PSU at your intended draw.
polarbaba
20 Sep 17#15
Agreed. Power series more premium.
therealjohnpeat
21 Sep 17#17
I was going to post what CampGareth did so I'll just big-up his point - the 'buy bigger to save' idea is bonkers/takes FAR too long to repay itself.
I get to fix a lot of PCs (I'd rather not, if I'm honest) and I've seen dozens and dozens of busted PSUs from premium to super-cheaps and I've yet to see a PSU failure do any damage to any other part in a PC. I also see a lot of cheap PSUs lasting a LONG LONG time - and I've seen brands fail quickly.
End-of-the-day you buy a rated and branded PSU for piece-of-mind (or because you're a brand-snob/stat-fanatic!) - just make sure you have slightly more power than you need and you'll be fine...
Note: on quietness, one mans 'quiet' is another's 'annoying noises' - don't buy this and expect 'silence' - if I bought it I'd just hope it wouldn't have the ticking noise EVERY CORSAIR I'VE OWNED has had ;0
polarbaba
21 Sep 17#18
I am sensitive to noise and I can't hear this at all in my deep silence case.
polarbaba
21 Sep 17#19
And I have had components damaged. A friend also had damaged mb/CPU/ram from a PSU. After that I never bought a cheap one ever again.
abigsmurf
22 Sep 17#20
Be quiet are a respectable brand, doing rebadging stuff made by good manufacturers.
On the subject of 400W, it all depends on what you want to use it with. I'd personally be uneasy about using this with any graphics card that can't take all the power it needs from the PCI-E slot. PSUs lose capacity over time and the closer to its limit you run it, the faster this happens and the more heat it generates. If you want a powersupply that you don't want to change for 8+ years, having a reasonable amount of spare capacity can help extend its lifespan.
fma965801
25 Sep 17#21
They are a bit more than just a rebranding company
![Fresh Breakfast Meat Box (Using code) @ Campbells Meat [Haggis / Lorne Sausage / Bacon / Black Pudding & More]](/images/topics/208684_1.jpg)
![[Xbox One] Q. u. b. e: Director's Cut on Deals with Gold](/images/topics/208716_1.jpg)
Opening post
21 comments
Yup, rebranding other manufacturers PSUs has been a good business for them.
Be Quiet! Are the business, been using them for almost 10 years, from 750w for my Overclocked gaming system to 300-400w for my media PC's. Fans don't even spin up unless it gets warm (which is never in my Media PC).
General rule of thumb with PSU's - never buy unbranded cheap ones, will likely go bang along with the rest of your components.
Always buy one with ample 'spare wattage' if it only has to work at 50% capacity it will be more efficient - i.e. it will only take 210w from the wall to output 200w. If it's going flat out it might draw 450w to output 400w. Also gives the option to fit more hard drives or upgrade components later
If in doubt about PSUs.
Ask Jonny!!
jonnyguru.com/
Couple questions if that's OK:
- Feels like its struggling with its (presumably) crappy 350W PSU - I take it this would be enough of a step up for it?
- Whats the difference between the 'system power 8' / 'pure power 10' supplies?
- May be related to the previous question, but do you find it comes with enough leads for everything (I currently don't have any spare and only have 1 DVD drive)?
Cant remember the exact specs, but to give you an idea of the kind of user I am, we (now) have a 1TB SSD, a ~£100 graphics card and I expanded the RAM at some point (it started out as this many moons ago - dell.com/ed/…/pd).
Thanks in advance. :grin:
Are the voltages even out of spec? They should be within 5% of the nominal voltage.
Say you've got a 1000W PSU that's 82% efficient at full load and 86% efficient at 50% load. You're gaining 4% efficiency, going from 109W wasted down to 81W wasted. That's 28W saved. That's 245kwh saved over a year of 24/7 operation, or at 15p per kwh that's 36 pounds.
Problem is most folk don't run their PSUs 24/7, and the 1000W capacity cost us more in the first place. The end result is that you're generally better off either going with a cheaper unit at your intended draw or if you're running a system 24/7 as a NAS for instance just spending more on a more efficient PSU at your intended draw.
I get to fix a lot of PCs (I'd rather not, if I'm honest) and I've seen dozens and dozens of busted PSUs from premium to super-cheaps and I've yet to see a PSU failure do any damage to any other part in a PC. I also see a lot of cheap PSUs lasting a LONG LONG time - and I've seen brands fail quickly.
End-of-the-day you buy a rated and branded PSU for piece-of-mind (or because you're a brand-snob/stat-fanatic!) - just make sure you have slightly more power than you need and you'll be fine...
Note: on quietness, one mans 'quiet' is another's 'annoying noises' - don't buy this and expect 'silence' - if I bought it I'd just hope it wouldn't have the ticking noise EVERY CORSAIR I'VE OWNED has had ;0
A friend also had damaged mb/CPU/ram from a PSU. After that I never bought a cheap one ever again.
On the subject of 400W, it all depends on what you want to use it with. I'd personally be uneasy about using this with any graphics card that can't take all the power it needs from the PCI-E slot. PSUs lose capacity over time and the closer to its limit you run it, the faster this happens and the more heat it generates. If you want a powersupply that you don't want to change for 8+ years, having a reasonable amount of spare capacity can help extend its lifespan.